simons



(No Model.) V 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. P. W. SIMONS.

METHOD OF KNITTING, HOSE. No. 476,084. Patented May 31, 1892.

A W/TNfSSES /N VENTOR W Eff/5077m A TTOHNEYS M d l.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

F. W. SIMONS.

METHOD OF KNITTING HOSE.

Patented Ma 31, 1892.

/N VE/VTOH E F. 96271027 W/TNESSES By M , ATTORNEYS UNITED Srn'rns ATENTEnron.

FREDERICK \V. SIMONS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OFONE-HALF TO CARRIE WILSON, OF SAME PLACE.

METHOD OF KNITTING HOSE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 476,084, dated May 31,1892.

Application filed January 5, 1892- Serial No. 417,118. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK W. SIMoNs, of Frankford, (Philadelphia,)in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and usef ulImprovement in Methods of Knitting Hose,

of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to methods of knitting hose; and it consists inknitting simultaneously upon the halves of two leg portions a to singleweb to form a heel on each leg, which heel parts are fashioned orrounded on the outer side by throwing out of action certain of theneedles, and afterward successively bringing them into action again, asherein- 1 5 after described, which heel parts are afterward severed fromeach other by cutting.

It also consists in the peculiar method of knitting the toe, and alsofurther in the peculiar method of knitting continuously upon the leg andheel portions a series of feet, the toe of one of which feet joins ontothe rear end of the sole of the next foot and is severed from the sameby cutting, as will be hereinafter fully described.

Figure 1 is a side view of parts of two leg portions united by thedouble heel. Fig. 2 is a view of one leg and heel severed or separatedfrom the other by cutting. Fig. 3 is a side view of the foot portion ofthe stocking complete, so far as the knittingis concerned,

but not looped together. Fig. 4 isa side view of the foot of thestocking complete, and

Fig. 5 is a side View of a chain or series of stocking-feet as knitcontinuously upon the 3 5 leg and heel portions shown in Fig. 2.

Referring to Fig. 1, A A are two leg portions, which, as shown, are of aribbed web, but may be of any other form. One half a and a of thestitches at the edge of each of the 0 leg portions is placed upon theone-half of .the needles of a circular-knitting machine, the other halfof the stitches of each leg portion being free, as at a. Thecircular-knittin g machine is then made to knit a plain web, as at b h.hen the knitting has progressed to the point where the ball of the heelrests, a line of fashioning-stitches is introduced on each side,

as at c c. For doing this all the needles on the side of the machinethat knits thehalt of l the web opposite to that shown in Fig. 1 arethrown out of action, and also all the needles on the near side of themachine from the points 0 to c are also thrown out, so that the needlesbetween the points 0 o are the only ones in the entire circumference ofthe machine that are active, and at each course back and forth as theknitting progresses a needle on each side is brought into action untilthe knitting gradually widens from c c to c c. This, it will be seen,causes the web to be a little longer on the middle line (1 6 than it ison either side, and this gives to each heel the fullness for the ball ofthe heel, as shown in Fig. 2. After the near side of the web has beenknit in this way from the line 0 c the needles on this near side of themachine are all thrown out of action and the corresponding needlesbetween the points a c on the opposite side are brought into action, andat each course another needle is added to the active ones to produce thefashioning c 0 upon that side. Then after the lines of fashioning c ehave been put in on that side all the needles of the machine are broughtinto actionand eight or ten rounds are knit, and the web is then takenoff the machine. The double-heel portion is then put on alooping-machineand the end of the heel portion 01 c of each leg is then closed andfastened together by said looper, and the double heel is then out uponthe line d e, forming on each side a fashioned heel, as shown in Fig. 2.

To follow the actual order of knitting, I would next describe the methodof knitting the foot; but as this is somewhat involved I will pass on tothe knitting of the toe, it being understood that in knitting the bodyof the foot before reaching the toe all the needles of the circularmachine are in action. When the point is reached for fashioning the toe,(see Fig. 3,) all the needles of the machine below the point f on eachside are thrown out, and the knitting proceeds from the point f on oneside over to the pointfon the opposite side, and at each course ofstitches another needle at 5 each end is brought into action until theweb is widened to the point 9 on each side and comprehends one-half ofthe full Web of the foot. Then all the needles that knit this portionare thrown out, and the needles between the [00 point h and thecorresponding point on the other side which knit the sole are thrown in,and this part of the web is widened at each course by taking in a newneedle at each course until the point 9 is reached, thus completing theother or lower half of the fashioning. Then all the needles are throwninto action, and a few courses are knit with the full web. the part ijis thrown off the needles, the other part from j to it being severed bycutting, for the purpose hereinafter described. The surfaces 71 j and jk are then brought together and are united bya looper, as shown in Fig.4.

Then one-half of the web or;

In practice the foot-sections are knit con-- tinuously, as shown in Fig.5, so that the cut at the line j 76 of Fig.5 leaves the edge e d of thenext succeeding foot, which edge in turn is fastened to the edge 6 cl bya looper to complete the heel. To make this clearer I would state thatwhen the leg and heel, Fig.

2, is to be put onthe machine to complete its.

foot and toe the following order is observed:

\Ve will suppose that the middle stockingfoot of Fig. 5 has just beenknit and the stitches from ttoj have just been cleared or thrown off themachine, while the part from; j to It is still on the machine and is notcast;

off .at all.

The leg and heel A (shown on the:

right of Fig. 5 or Fig. 2) is now applied to; the machine and its freeedge a is fitted to thehalf of the needles which were vacated;

by the toe part0; j of the previous foot, and

then the knitting proceeds with all the needles of the machine to knitthe foot, as indi-% cated by the dotted lines on the right of Fig 5,which foot will be united to the leg of the right-hand stocking and tothe toe of the-1 1. The method of knitting the heels of stock ings,which consists in knitting a continuous circular web upon one-halfofeach of two leg. portions, then throwing out of action all the needlesexcept a portion at the middle of one side of the machine, thensuccessively bring-j ing into action again the adjacent needles on thatside of the machine, then repeating the operation on the other side ofthe machine to round or fashion the heels, and then dividing thelastknit web portion longitudinally along the median line to form a separateheel for each of the two legs, substantially as shown and described.

2. The method of knitting the toe of a stocking, which consists in firstknitting the full Web of the foot with all the needles, then throwingout all the needles except those that knit the top part of the toe, andgradually widening and fashioning the toe by bringing in one needle ateach end at each course until one-half of the needles are at work, thenthrowing out this half of the needles and bringing into action a portionof the needles which knit the sole and gradually bringing into "actionat each course an additional needle at each end to fashion the lowerpart or sole of the toe until this half of the needles are at work, andthen throwing in all the needles andknitting a few courses,substantially as shown and described.

3. The method of knitting the feet of stockings in a continuous seriesor chain, which consists in knitting the foot of one stocking to thetoe, clearing or throwing the upper half of the toe from the needles andplacing upon these needles the instep portion of a new leg and heelsection, and continuing the knitting to form a foot which shall beunited to both the new leg-section and also the foot-section of theprevious stocking, substantially as shown and described.

4. The method of knitting and formingthe feet of stockings, whichconsists in first knitting the foot of one stocking to the toe, thenclearing or throwing off the upper half of'the toe from the needles andplacing upon these needles the instep portion of a new leg and heelsection and continuing the knitting to form a foot which shall be unitedto both the new leg-section and also the foot-section of the previousstocking, then cutting the lower half of the toe of one foot from therear end of the sole of thenext foot, and finally looping together andclosing the toes and also the heels, substantially as shown anddescribed.

. FREDERICK \V. SIMONS. Witnesses:

THADDEUS STEARNE, PHILIP B. WELLS.

